This invention relates to lighting systems, in particular lighting systems for illuminating extended areas, such as at a warehouse, walk-in cooler, or retail area.
In earlier decades, fluorescent and incandescent lights were used to provide electric powered illumination. As is well known, LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology provides more energy efficient light output compared to the light output efficiency of the prior technologies. However, an LED chip's lighting geometry differs from that of the previous lighting sources. The LED chip's lighting emission surface tends to have essentially planar emission surface of an incandescent bulb or tubular emission surface as with some fluorescent sources.
Therefore, though LED technology is more efficient, the characteristically flat LED sources may not be desirable for some applications, for example, with existing lighting fixtures using bulb-shaped sources. Despite having different light source emission geometry, there is a need in the art for LED lighting configurations that produce substantially the same lighting patterns as prior lamp technology lighting systems.